Memory and oblivion Exploring the collective identity of the Greek Sephardic Jews through the online rediscovery of Ladino
Résumé
The Sephardic Jewish language, Ladino, a language that almost experienced linguistic extinction in the post-war period due to the extermination of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki is now undergoing a remarkable resurgence on the terrain of online platforms. By examining who speaks Ladino today as a habitually used language that is linked to collective memory, this article seeks to understand the ways in which the usage of Ladino has raised identity issues for Greek Sephardic Jews via an interdisciplinary approach. In particular, based on a synthesis between digital ethnographic approaches, drawing on Marcus’s (1995, 1998) multi-sited ethnography and Critical Discourse Studies’ (CDS) analytical framework, especially the Discourse Historical Approach (DHA), this study examines how members of Facebook groups interested in Ladino create their own digital space and maintain their cultural and religious identities via this specific language variation, and at a time of a worrying surge in antisemitism.
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Boukala, S. (2025). Memory and oblivion: Exploring the collective identity of the Greek Sephardic Jews through the online rediscovery of Ladino. Aegean Working Papers in Ethnographic Linguistics, 4, 000–000. Consulté à l’adresse https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/awpel/article/view/40090
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